Born October 19, 1962 in Atmore, GA. Holyfield capped his 160-14 (75 KOs) amateur career with a bronze medal at the 1984 Olympic Games and turned pro that year at Madison Square Garden.

In only his 12th fight, he defeated Dwight Qawi (W 15) for the WBA cruiserweight title and became unified champion with wins over IBF champion Rickey Parkey (TKO 3) and WBC champion Carlos DeLeon (TKO 8). Holyfield set his sights on the heavyweight title and wins over James Tillis (TKO 5), Pinklon Thomas (TKO 7), Michael Dokes (TKO 10) and Alex Stewart (TKO 8) set up a 1990 WBC / WBA/ IBF championship fight with "Buster" Douglas, which he won via 3rd round knockout. Successful defenses over George Foreman (W 12), Bert Cooper (TKO 7) and Larry Holmes (W 12) followed. He lost the titles to Riddick Bowe in 1992 but regained the WBA / IBF belts in the infamous “Fan Man” 1993 rematch. He dropped the titles to Michael Moorer (L 12) in 1994 and met Bowe in a 1995 rubber match (TKO by 8). In 1996 he upset Mike Tyson (TKO 11) for the WBA title and won the rematch (DQ 3) the next year. He added the IBF strap with a rematch win over Moorer (TKO 8) in 1997. After unification bouts (D 12, L 12) with Lennox Lewis in 1999, he boxed a trilogy with John Ruiz that saw him win, lose and draw in 12-round WBA title bouts in 2000 and 2001.

“The Real Deal” continued to box until 2011, compiling a record of 44-10-2 (29 KOs).